Mid-Season Patch for Sizzle Season 2023

[starry_echo]

This patch looks pretty good! It doesn't really seem to change much about what seems to be good from a high-level competitive standpoint, but some quality-of-life changes to lots of main weapons (like splattershot pro's painting ability and dynamo roller's white ink frames) and specials like Zooka and Chump don't go unappreciated. The thing I'm most worried about is that n-zap 85 was really popular/good in the meta before the buff to the main weapon, so we'll have to see how that develops.

To read the patch yourself, check here: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/59461/~/how-to-update-splatoon-3

What's your favorite change in this update?

 

[McSquid82]

I like just about everything in the patch but definitely the pro's painting buff. It's been overdue for a while now and this is a big step in the right direction. Also, the Inkjet buff was overtuned and I'm glad they dialed it back a bit.

 

[missingno]

Ballpoint 210p and Inkjet nerf are very valid, not an overnerf either, just the right slap on the wrist it needed.
Shot buffs????
No changes whatsoever to Splash or Crab...
Everything else seems like little bitty baby buffs that I certainly won't complain about, they deserve something, but also am not sure they're enough. It's something I guess.

Pretty small patch overall, and the game is in a healthy enough state that it makes sense for this patch to be small. I'm still raising an eyebrow at Shot but otherwise nothing crazy.

 

[Tac]

The patch is pretty nice and will definitely make a few weapons easier to play. But besides the inkjet + Ballpoint nerfs it doesn't really feel like it will shake up the meta or how often weapons are played, and I'm also very confused why they nerfed NTri's access to tacticooler, but not N-Zap's? They buffed N-Zap? I thought it was neat that there were two relatively common picks for Tacticooler but probably not anymore. Also why did they nerf Mini? Oh well, it could have been much worse I guess.

Those are some big wins for Painbrush though, and I especially like the change that makes a Tri-Stringer's arrow's explosion combo with 2 direct arrow hits.

 

[missingno]

Yeah I have less questions about what was changed than what wasn't changed. I'm not a big fan of Tacticooler meta and while I'm not asking for it to get shot dead I think they probably should've reverted to like, half of the buff from 4.0. If NTri is getting nerfed because of Cooler, why wouldn't Zap85? Especially if they're giving it an accuracy buff, then there's gotta be something else in exchange for that.

One more reading between the lines that stands out to me is Luna getting an accuracy buff, which is very valid. But then what about every other Blaster? S-Blast was an experiment that proved it is fine to let Blasters have accuracy. Just give them that.

Also, this officially means no Brella buffs for the entire first year of Splatoon 3. Maybe season 5, but at this rate probably not.

 

[Shayreep]

This is a very strange patch. Only the ballpoint nerfs i understand. Why did zap get buffed??? Nintendo wants shooter meta to return lol

 

[McSquid82]

This is a very strange patch. Only the ballpoint nerfs i understand. Why did zap get buffed??? Nintendo wants shooter meta to return lol

Shooter meta? I think you mean the Splash meta right now because I don't see much of any other shooters in top level competition except maybe the Jet Squelcher. The Splattershot and N-Zap both sorely needed those buffs because there was practically no reason to choose them over the Splash which completely outclasses them in every way except range and damage in the Splattershot's case. In addition, the Splattershot Pro really needed a painting buff, because it was pretty much garbage before. I know people like to throw the term shooter privilege around pretty freely, but they can't see the imbalance among the weapons in the shooter class and be objective.

 

[max_taco]

im just happy they finally buffed tristringer at least a little